Cervical cancer is the cancer of the cervix. According to WHO reports, it kills one woman every hour in Nigeria. A large percentage of the population of women in Nigeria do not go for their regular screening or have no access to screening centers.
Cervical cancer is a preventable cancer, a form of cancer that exhibits pre-cancer cells before it matures into cancer. Therefore, screening is important and vaccination as a form of preventative method is important.
Exquisite magazine has been consistently organising the walk for cervical cancer prevention since 2012. Every year, hundreds of women are screened under this umbrella and more recently, those that present pre-cancer stages are treated.
EMAC is focused on reducing the number of deaths relating to cervical cancer, by raising more awareness on preventative measures. Exquisite magazine started the SMEARIT campaign in January 2017 to remind people of the importance of smear tests and other tests for cervical cancer screening.
Exquisite Magazine held her Annual Cervical Cancer (EMAC) walk / Smearathon for the 6th time on the 16th of September 2017 at the MURI OKUNOLA Park, Victoria Island, Lagos.
The turnout had over 500 individuals in attendance. The tag this year was the EMAC SMEARATHON with free screening for 500 people. The EMAC walk / Smearathon, kicked off with a 5km walk, fitness exercises led by our celebrity fitness enthusiast KATE HENSHAW, MAJA AYIDA, SEUN FADINA and SANDRA.
Other influencers and celebrities who came to support the cause included KIKI OMEILE, CHEUY.CHEU, SUKANMI, LOLA OMOTAYO OKOYE, CHINONSO YOUNG amongst others in attendance.
According to the founder and editor in chief, Exquisite magazine, Tewa Onasanya, “the EMAC walk is tagged the EMAC Smearathon because we wanted to be able to screen people that have come to participate in the walk and bring people in from various areas to take advantage of the free screening marathon”.
It was indeed a time of fun, networking and cervical cancer screening for 500 people. The EMAC Smearathon 2017 is powered by exquisite magazine and sponsored by the Access women network and the W community. As a continuation, more cervical cancer screenings will be held at various locations in Lagos.
